The girl, the goblin, and the room full of gold

The Girl, the Goblin, and the Room full of Gold Written and Illustrated by Catherine Gosney

For Steve

O

nce upon a time there lived a spinner and his daughter, Grace.

They lived a content life in the green hills of a vast kingdom. The spinner was getting old, and with the price of wool going up, and the quality of his work going down, they were not in a great financial situation.

G

race was not a good spinster. She preferred books, which was good,

because they were cheap in this kingdom as no one else was interested in them.

T

he people in the town were not very nice about Grace’s lack of spinning

skills, and one day at the market, her father had enough of it.

“My daughter can literally spin straw into gold.” He did not know what literally meant. As I said, books were not popular with most in the kingdom.

Of course, one of the king’s servants happened to be passing by and heard this, and of course, he immediately told the greedy king, who sent a small party back to collect Grace and her father.

“Y

ou will marry my son.” He said to Grace, who stood there, shocked.

“I have decided you are the perfect match for him.” Before Grace could explain that that wasn’t something you could just decide, and that perfection was no more than an illusion, not to mention, she hadn’t even met his son and that was not a good indicator of how this marriage would turn out, the king boomed again, “First you will spend three days in the dungeon, spinning straw into gold.” Grace was not having it. “Wait a second--” but before she could inform the king that alchemy was proven to be impossible, she was whisked away. She tried to call out to him, but her father was oblivious, smiling happily that his daughter was about to become a princess, and hoping she would save some of the gold for him to remodel his sunroom.

G

race spent the night sleeplessly in her new room. She was awoken

absurdly early, given a carb-rich breakfast and taken to the dungeons, where she was told she must turn a mountain of straw into gold by the end of the day.

Considering her breakfast consisted of only bread, and no protein whatsoever, she decided to take a nap before figuring out how to get out of this situation.

W

hen she awoke, it was nearly 11 o’clock. She could tell by the position of

the sun outside the tiny barred window at the top of the East wall. She examined her surroundings, but sat up suddenly, as there was a tiny goblin leaning against the wall, and goblins could be wily and unpredictable. “I am Rumplestiltskin.”

Said the goblin. “I can spin straw into gold.”

“How did you know I needed help?” asked Grace, letting down her defenses.

“You need help?” Asked the creature.

“Yes. I need to spin this straw into gold.”

“What a coincidence. I am Rumplestiltskin, and I can spin straw into gold.”

“Yes.” Said Grace, “You mentioned that. Will you help me?”

“With what?” Asked the goblin.

It went on like this for a good ten minutes before Grace finally got Rumplestiltskin to agree to spin the straw.

“I

will need payment.” Said the goblin.

“Of course. Uh. What can I give you?” Grace asked.

He required the tiny golden ring off of her finger, which had been a gift from her aunt. Considering one piece of the golden straw could make 10 of these rings, Grace was a little confused as to why he wanted the ring, but assumed it was because he gained some sort of power from sentimental things.

S

he wasn’t going to ask, and interrupt his work though.

The golden straw was finished by dinner time, and Rumplestiltskin disappeared.

T

he next morning, Grace was awoken again, and because of her request

for more protein in her breakfast, she was given bread with cheese today. She still decided to take a nap when she got to the dungeon though, as there was nothing she could do until Rumplstiltskin came back. If he came back.

He did return, and to Grace’s frustration, they had a nearly identical conversation as the day before. “I am Rumplistiltskin. I can spin straw into gold.”

“Oh boy.” Said Grace, but she pressed on, hoping that they could get to the

bartering faster today. They did not.

Today Rumplestiltskin required a piece of lace that was holding up her hair,

and as it was not sentimental in the least, Grace’s theory of sentimental items giving him power was disproven.

T

he third morning, she was awoken with bread and cheese, and taken to

the dungeon, where she took her morning nap.

“I am Rumplstiltskin. I can spin straw into gold.”

But today Grace had nothing left.

“Then you must give me something later, when you are a princess. How

about your first child? I think that seems fair.”

“Absolutely not.” Said Grace. What kind of a person would give up their

child to a goblin? She thought.

“Alright.” He replied. “How about 3 yards of silk? I have been meaning to

sew some pajamas, and I think silk would be the perfect material.”

Grace agreed, wondering again, if he realized that he could have bought any

of these items with the gold he was magically able to spin.

A

fter the third day, the kingdom rejoiced, and Grace and the Prince

were married. Luckily, the prince actually was perfect for Grace, as he was the only other person in the kingdom who actually read books, and was quite the intellectual, disagreeing with his father wholeheartedly with the notion that money could bring happiness.

G

race bought yards and yards of the finest silk for Rumplestiltskin,

and waited for him to come collect it. He did not come, and did not come, but a few years later, when Grace had her first child, he appeared again.

“I

believe that child belongs to me.” Said Rumplestiltskin, to which Grace,

shook her head in exasperation, and informed him that she had his silk, but he

would not be taking her child. “Fine.” He said. “If you can tell me my name, then you can keep your child.”

“It’s Rumplestiltskin.” She said.

“That’s a terrible name, that can’t be it.” The goblin replied, which is when

Grace realized that he was not asking to test her, but because he had actually forgotten it.

“Um. Steve. Steve is your name.”

“Fantastic.” He said, took his silk, and disappeared.

A

fter that day, Princess Grace, the prince and their child lived happily

ever after. Sometimes they even saw Steve, and asked him to come visit. He would say yes, but by the time came for him to arrive, he had already forgotten he was going to visit. He never forgot his name though: Steve.